The Sun. — London, England, 1864-12-24 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence. been stripped from her bottom, but no serious in juries have been discovered. Her decks are, how. ever, out of repair. The Liverpool was built with great despatch—in nine months, it is sa'c'—and the planking used may not have been sufficiently sea• soned. After she was put in commilsic n she pro. ceeded at once to the West Indies, Ni here at first eke remained in port exposed for some time to the sun, which opened her deck beams, especially underneath. She then went to sea, and having encountered heavy weather, which strained her, a serious leakage ensued. Gangs of caulkers are now busily occupied in repairing her decks, and when her new false keel is ready the shipwrights will set her up with shores ; the dock-blocks will then be removed, and she will be restored to a seaworthy condition. The Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, as Pre. sident, ex.officio, of the Council of Education, and Governor of the Royal Military Academy at Wool wich, yesterday attended and closed the half-yearly course of studies of the gentlemen cadets at that es tablishment. His Royal Highness was assisted by by the Vice President, Major General Frederick William Hamilton, C.B.—Major General Sir Fre derick Abbott, C.B.—the Rev. Canon Mosely,F.R.S. —and Col. Thomas Elwyn, R.A., members of the Council, who were present. The Field Marshal, on his arrival at half.past 10 a.m., alighted on the area fronting, the principal entrance to the Academy ground, where he was officially received by the Cora. mandant and Staff of the garrison, the Lieut. Go. vernor and commanding officers of the Academy, a number of General officers from the Horse Guards, and others assembled in fall-dress uniforms. The D aka wore the uniform of Colonel of the Royal Engineers. Soon after his arrival he was joined by his Royal Highness Prince Arthur, who had ridden down from the Ranger's house, in Green wich- park, accompanied by Major Elphinstone, R.A., hie governor. The following officers formed a portion of the staff from the Horse Guards :—Gen. John Burgoyne, G,C.8., Director of Works—Gen. Sir George Pollock, G.C.B. and K.S.l.—Lieut..Gen. Sir Harry Jones, G.C,8,, Royal Engineers, Governor of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst—and Lieut.. Gen. the Hon. Sir James Y. Scarlett, K.C.8., Adjt.-Gen. to the Forces. The following officers also formed part of the escort :—Major Gen. Warde, C. 8., R.A., Major. Gen. Sandham, R.E., Col. Gambier, Deputy Adjt..Gen, R.A.—Brigade Major Hay, Capt. Nan gin, Deputy Assist.-Quartermaster- , Gen.—Capt. Williams, Aide-de.Camp—Col.Payne, Commandant Royal Marines—Col. Hawkins, Commanding Royal Engineers—Col. Kennedy, C. 8., Commandant Mili. tart' Train—Lieut.-Col. Gibbon, C. 8., 4th division depot brigade Royal Artillery—Lieut.-Col. Field, governor of the general hospital—Major Shervin tort, Brigade Major Military 'Train—])r Litle and the Medical Staff of the Academy—Col. F. A. Yorke, R.E., Inspector of Studies and second Com mandant—Capt. Bruce, HA., Assist.-Inspector of Studies—Brevet-Major Thring,R,A.—Capt. Stokes, RA., and Second Capt. Arbuckle, Captains of Com panies of Gentlemen Cadets, together with the pro. lessors and masters forming the civil branch of the Academy. The whole of the field batteries of the Royal Artillery having been drawn out in com. mind of Colonel Anderson, C. 8., 4th Brigade, HA., marched past on the Duke's arrival, and underwent an inspection. Afterwards his Royal Highness proceeded to the Academy parade, where the gentlemen cadets were mustered . under arms, and were put through a course of manual and platoon exercises by the senior cadets Nicholson, Washington, and Curling - ; and in which they acquitted themselves in a moat creditable manner. After examining the landscape and other drawings executed during the past half, his Royal Highness proceeded to one of the class rooms and made a viva roce examination in the French and German lan. guages, and privately gave an admonitory address, in which he referred with much regret to certain pro ceedings which had recently been transacted, and which he hoped would would never be repeated. The company then adjourned to the School of Arms, and formed in double file to the number of 178, in front of the table on which were placed the prizes, The general visitors were here admitted by tickets only. The Cadmus, 21, 400• horse power, Capt. A. C. Gordon, fitting at Chatham harbour for the North American and West India station, has had no day named to take her departure, and it seems pro• bable that she will be delayed some time in conse quence of the slow rate at which the crew is being completed. Her compliment is fired at 270 men, but up to the present time only 60 hands have joined, and these were sent on board a day or two since from the naval barracks to proceed, with the Royal Marines, with the ordinary work of fitting out the ship. Very little now remains to be executed on board by the shipwright department, and the vessel is so far advanced that had she the proper number of men she could proceed to sea next week. By the Saxon, which arrived yesterday at Plymouth, we learn that the military commander at the Cape of Good Hope was at Graham's Town. The transports:Rosslyn Castle and Mary Shepheard had arrived in Simon's Bay, with the Ist battalion of the 10th Regiment. The relief, 858, commanded by Col. Annesly and Major Henslow, were under canvass on the parade at Cape Town. Her Majesty ship Valorous was in Table Bay, but was expected to leave on Nov. 22 with the 2d bat talion for Simon's Bay, where the troops will join the transports and proceed to Calcutta. Her Ma jesty's ship Orontes, from Plymouth, arrived in Table Bay on Nov, 7, and left for Simon's Bay on the Bth ; she sailed on the 13th for Ceylon. The French gunboat Preg left Simon's Bay on Nov. 7 for Bourbon. The Prussian steamer Don Juan, 12, from the Mozambique, arrived in Simon's Bay on Nov. 13. Commodore Wilmot, in the Rattlesnake, had made a long visit to St. Helena. The Jaseur, 5, arrived at the island on Nov. 19, and left on the 23d for Ascension. The Diamond Company's steamer Kaffraria, from England, arrived on the 13th. The storeship Meander, 10, Capt. J. G. Bickford, the iron screw steam troopship Dromedary, Master-Coro. Alexander Brown, and the screw steam gun.vessel Jaseur, 5, Commander Walter J. H. Grubbe, were at Ascension on the 3d of December; the screw steam gun-vessel Espoir, 5, was at Madeira on the 16th of December. The following appointments were made yesterday at the Admiralty :—Lieut. R. B. Lambert to the Royal Adelaide—Lieut. Frederick B. Boardman and Lieut. Lawrence Ching to the Excellent, for study —Henry D. King, assist-clerk, for the Secretary's office—Thomas F. Harrison and George Taylor, assist.-clerks, additional, to the Princess Royal. The following appointment has been made in the Royal Naval Reserve :—John Irwin Browne, to be Lieut. WILLS AND BEQUESTS. The Duke and Prince, accompanied by the officers above named, took up their position at the back of the table, and Col. Yorke, addressing the Duke, read the annexed report (Front the illustrated _London Nezes.) Royal Military Academy. Sir,-1 hava the honour to report to yourßoyal High ness that the gentleman cadets of the Ist class who have been found qualified for commissions at the recent examina tion by the Council of Military Education are also qualified in regard to conduct and drill. In every class throughout the Academy the emulation in study has been very appa rent, and the monthly returns on that head have been highly satisfactory. The zeal and attention of the professors and instructors and masters have been unremitting in every branch of art. The will of Robert George Cecil Pane, Esq., a Commissioner of the Court of Bankruptcy, of 4, Upper Brook-street, was proved by his relict, Har riette Anne Pane, only daughter of Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood, Bart., the sole executrix nomi nated in the will, to whom he has bequeathed the whole of his property absolutely. The personalty was sworn under £40,000. The will is dated Aug. 6, 1861, aed is executed on a printed form. The Every rani,. of cfficcr connected with the discipline and military exercises has received material assistance from the responsible and sub-division under officers and from the greater number of corporals in carrying out the du'ies and in maintaining discipline, which has been carried out with firmness and consideration. The bearing of the officers towards the cadets and of the cadets among themselves has been very satisfactory. The drills, gymnastics, and riding have been carried out as fully as time permitted, and the senior claim have had the advantage of four days' practice with the heavier guns at 3hoeburyness. I have the honour to - he, Sce,, IL SANDIIAM, Major-Ugneral, Lientenant-Govtrnor. After reading the report, the Duke proceeded to address the company, and said that it pleased him to receive so gratifying an account of the professors and masters, and that it gave him groat satisfaction to find that, in pursuance of their studies and the general duties of the Academy, the gentlemen cadets had conducted themselves well. He congra tulated them on that score heartily, but told them that they must bear in mind that there were other duties to be carried out in order to attain that posi tion for which they were designed. He should not enlarge on that topic again, as he had already dis cussed the subject in another part of the establish ment. They ought never to overlook the fact that to be able to command they should learn to obey. This was one of their duties, the importance of which he wished most to inculcate. Without it they could never be qualified to figure well in the roll of the valuable corps to which they might be appointed. His royal highness concluded by wishing them an agreeable Christmas. One of the classes then pro ceeded to the gymnasium, and went through a most interesting course of exercises. The following were the prizes awarded .—Mr Curling, a regulation sword for exemplary conduct ; Mr Nicholson, five prizes, viz., for exemplary conduct the Pollock gold medal ; for Ist artillery, a double telescope ; Ist for tification, and " aide memoire ;" lst topography, an aneroid barometer, and for chymiatry, a microscope; Mr Broun, for 2d artillery, a small aneroid barome. ter, and for geology a microscope; Mr Lindoc, 2d fortification, a prismatic compass; Mr Beresford, for 2d topography, a pocket sextant, Mr Pulford, for natural philosophy and practical mathematics, a microscope; Mr Walker, for Ist French and 2d German; Mr Moore, for 2d French; Mr Arnott, for - Ist German, an atlas ; Mr Jacob, for Hindustani, a gazeteer of India ; Mr Purcell, for Ist mathema , tics, a case of instruments ; Mr Watson, for 2d ma thematics, 3d fortification, and Ist practical geome try, a prismatic compass, a pocket compass with teal° and pen in case, and a pocket sextant ; to Mr Sekyl, for Ist landscape drawing, the " English School of Painting in Water Colours ;" and to Mr Leech, for 2d landscape drawing, a box of colours, with brushes, &e. After leaving the Academy the Duke attended the riding-school of the garrison, where a class of the cadets went through a course of bar riding. His royal highness left Woolwich at about three o'clock for London, under a royal salute from the guns of the Royal Artillery at the Greenhill Battery. Before taking his departure he said he must not refrain from complimenting some of the cadets—namely, Mr Beaver, who is still an inmate of the hospital from a severe wound in the face; Mr Biscoe, Mr Curling, and Mr Reid fur their courageous and humane conduct at the been() of the late railway accident at Blackheath, when, although injured and coffering themselves, they tendered all the assistance in their power to their fel tow passengers. Th e War Department screw steam vessel Balac lava, from %l'oolvvich, arriv e d on Th ursday at De. Tonpurt with store; for the gun-wharf, The iroreased screw* ateamshiP Caledonia 3,5, 'tting for the first division of the Steatti R eserve, 1735 removed on Wednesday from Ddv onpurt dock yard to Keyhatu. _ _ The screw steam frigate Liverpool, 39, Capt. Rowley Lllnbert, is now in No, 1 dock at the 1),. vonport var.] She was commissioned in April last year, and was obliged to return from her station in conserinence of lakage and the loss of a portion of her false keel. Oa arrival at Plymouth it was ru allure' that the defects were so great that her officers expected she would be put of commission. She has lost a portion of her false keel extending from the stem to two thirds of its entire length. Since ehe has been in dock several patches of copper have learned eonartiisioner died on the 4th of October at the age of 68. The will of John Leecb, Esq., artist, was proved by his relict Anne Leech, the sole executrix, and the personally sworn under £6,000. He has left the whole of his property, real aid personal, to his wife, for her use absolutely. The will bears date March 10, 1854. The will of Hudson Gurney, ,of Keswick, Norfolk, and St. James's, Westminister, was proved in London under £1,100,000 personalty in England. The executors are John Henry Gurney, Daniel Gurney, of North Runcton, near Lynn ; and Francis Hay Gurney, of Thorpe, Norwich. The attesting witnesses are Fredk. Jansen, solicitor, Basin hall street, and George George, land agent, CringleTord The will is dated 26th June, 1860, and there are six codicils, the last dated the 26:12 October, 1864, and the testator died on the 9th November. There are many legacies. The principal legatee is John Henry Gurney (the testator's second cousin, and sonsin-law of testator's late brother, Joseph Henry Gurney). To him he has devised the mansion and freehold of Kes wick, all other his real estates, and has left to him the plate, library, manuscripts, and family reminis cences as heirlooms, bequeathing £5,000 for the erection of a room suitable to contain the collection ; and further bequeaths in trust for him the sum of £16t,000 to be invested and settled in the same man" ner with the inheritance of the freeholds, appointing him also residuary legatee of the personal estate. And the testator further directs that the sum of £120,000 shall also be invested in the purchase of real property, to be held in trust for the sons (ac cording to seniority) of the late John Gurney of Earlham (who was the son of testator's late cousin, Samuel Gurney, of Upton-street). To his said cousin and executor, Daniel Gurney, he leaves £120,000 ; to his said executor, Francis Hay Gurney (eldest son of the said Daniel Gurney), £20,000. Amongst the legatees is W. H. Covington, of Barclay and Bevan's Bank, 100 guineas, and a like sum to gen. tlemen in Gurney's Norwich Bank; and legacies to others in the brewery of which the testator was principal partner. Annuities and legacies to his domestics, and £lO for each year they have been in his service. The charitable bequests are :—To the Old People's Hospital, St Helen's, Norwich, £1,000 ; Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, £1,000 ; Q ua k ers , Monthly Meeting in Norwich (to which his family had belonged), £1,000; Norwich Public Literary Institution, £lOO. He also leaves £2,000 to be placed at the entire discretion of his executors in providing for such minor allowances as he had been in the habit of making; and as they fall in the prin cipal to be given to charities in and about Norwich and elsewhere where he had property. All chari. table bequests, legacies, and annuities not exceeding £20,000 are to be paid free of legacy duty. The will of the Hon. Hannah Meyer Fitzßoy, of Upper Grosvenor-street, the widow or the Right Hon. Henry Fitzßoy, and daughter of the late Baron Nathan Meyer Rothschild, has been proved in the Principal Court of Probate. It was made on the 21st of November last ; and after making various bequests to Lady Southampton and other relatives and friends, the will directs £4OO to be applied by the executors, through the National Lifeboat Society, in the purchase of a lifeboat, to be called the Arthur Frederick, after her late son; also £4OO to bs given to the poor of the parishes of St George, Hanover-square; St Marylebone, St George•in. the-East, and St Margaret, Westminster. There are a!so legacies and other bequests to all her ser vants; and the residue is bequeathed to her only daughter, Caroline Blanche Elizabeth, the wife of Sir Coutts Lindsay, Bart., who iuherits the whole of the large fortune of the deceased, The executors aro Sir Coutts Undsay end Mr Edmund Barlow, by whom the will was proved. The will of Charles Lewis, Esq., of the Mansion, Albany, has been proved in London by Lieuts. Frederick Lewis and Alfred Lewis, and Mr Tyrrell Lewis, solicitor, three of the executors. The will hears date October 5, 1862, and after making ten specific legacies of £lOO for the immediate use of ins Widow and nice c hild ren, and specific provisions for his eldest and two youngest eons, the testator gives a further legacy of £2,000 to each of his five gone, Lieuts. Frederick, Alfred, Ernest, and Somers, and Mr Tyrrell Lewis; his freeholds to his widow and daughter for life ; and empowers his executors to sell his pictures and personalty, and gives the residue of his estate to his said five sons. The per sonalty was sworn under £25,000, THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 24, 1864. lasted 10 minutes, at the end of whioh time the keepers succeeded in apprehending the prisoners. It was contended on behalf of the prisoners that the keepers attacked them, and that they, on their part, offered no resistance whatever beyond what was absolutely neces sary to protect themselves. His lordship said that if the jury believed the witnesses there was no doubt the offince had been committed. The jury acquitted the prisoners. Thus ended the busines3 of the Midland Circuit. OXFORD CIRCUIT.—READING, Dec. 23. CROWN COURT. (Before Mr Justice Byles.) Jesse Oakly was indicted for wounding Isaac Oakly on the throat, at Chieveley, on the 12th Dec. last, with intent to murder him, or do him grievous bodily harm. The prisoner, upon being arraigned, pleaded Guilty; but the learned judge caused the indictment to be ex plained to him and a plea of Not Guilty to be entered for him. The prisoner was out in service as a farm labourer,but on Sunday, the 11th inst., unexpectedly returned home to his father, who is a labourer, and lives in a cottage on the Hill green in Chieveley. Isaac Oakly is his younger brother and with the prisoner and a brother and a sister Charlotte made up the family. The prisoner is 21 years old, and his brother Issac 10 years old. After he came home on the Sunday the prisoner ate his meals as usual and went to chapel in the evening. He was observed by his father and sister to be whetting one of the table knives on a brick before the house, and he told them that he was doing it to cut off some dead skin which he had on his hand, and his father saw him afterwards cutting at his hand, On the Monday morning Charlotte gave Isaac his usual dinner to take with him to school, and between 8 and 9 o'clock Isaac started. Jesse was then on the green, and he asked Isaac to go along with him. Isaac refused to go, but Jesse took him by both hands and pulled him over a stile close by the cottage. The stile led into a field in which was a path and also a chalk pit. Jesse took Isaac up this path and to the chalk pit, which he asked Isaao to go in to seek a rabbit. They both went down into the pit. Jesse put Isaac to sit and lie down, and sat himself down alongside, Isaac had a handkerchief round his neck, and this handkerchief Jesse fastened round his eyes. Isaac immediately felt something sharp against his throat, and blood trickled down between his skin and his clothes. Mrs Oakly, the mother, who had been at work on this morning in a field near, and was re. turning home when she met Jesse some short distance from the chalk pit, who told that Isaac was up against the chalk pit and would not go to school. She went to the chalk pit and found Isaac with a little blood on his frock, but so little had fal.en on the outside of his frock that she thought that his nose only was bleeding. He was sensible. and she took him home, and there she discovered that his throat had been cut, The wound was described as an incised wound of three inches in length, and half an inch in depth in the centre, and made an opening in the windpipe sufficiently large to ad mit the point of a little finger. Jacob Oakly, the father, came home soon afterwards, found what had been done, and went after Jesse, whom he found in a lane near, When he was asked whether he was guilty or not, Jesse made no answer. In the chalk pit was found the handle of one of the table knives belonging to the cottage. No motive for the act could be assigned by the prosecution. Jesse was described as al ways very good to Isaac, and it was said there never had been any quarrel between them. He, however, had not kept his places where he had been at work, and generally left of his own mind. The policeman who took hire into custody found upon him a card which had been given him at a re ligious camp meeting, and which purported to appoint him a collector for the Primitive Methodist connection, on be. half of the Pea.semore chapel, in the Newbury circuit. His father, too, had once known him praying in the open air on the green, with others of the same persuasion, and stated that when a child he had had fits. But it appeared that on Sunday, the 11th inst., he ate as usual, and nothing strange was observed about him. His Lordship, in summing np, commented on the impos sibility of assigning any motive for the act done by the pri soner, and told the jury they must consider whether the prisoner was or was not of sound mind when he did the deed, and that he was of sound mind if he knew at the time he was doing wrong. It appeared that he had the means of such knowledge, but, his lordship added, those who know best are subject to strange aberrations of mind. His lord ship alluded also to the religious tendencies of the prisoner, saying, however, that no inference could be drawn from the form of religion adopted by the prisoner, for that, whatever form the Christian religion assumed, it was the best security for the virtue of mankind, The jury returned a verdict on the ground of insanity. His Lordship said that though the evidence was very scant on the subject, he thought the jury were right. The prisoner was then remanded to custody, to be de tained during her Majesty's pleasure. The conviction cf a man for robbery with violence, who was sentenced to five years penal servitude brought the as sizes for this circuit to a close early this afternoon. ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE, HOME CIRCUIL—LEwEs, Dec. 23. CROWN COURT. (Before Mr Baron Channell.) The businoss of the Assizes here was concluded to-day. In the case of manslaughter arising out of a blow struck in a casual encounter, the medical evidence leaving it doubtful whether the blow was the cause of death, the grand jury threw out the bill. Two young women, servants, were convicted of stealing a pair of bobts, and one George Henry Hutchins with re ceiving the same, well knowing them to have been stolen. Mr A. L. Smith prosecuted. They were sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. It has already been mentioned that most of the cases in the calendar were cases either of burglary or forgery. None of the cases of burglary,towever, were bad cases, or attended with any circumstances of violence or nocturnal terror to the inmates. The cases of forgery came from Brighton. In the course of the day the learned Judge took occasion to observe that in cases of forgery it was very desirable that the written instruments should be annexed to the deposi tions, or at all events copies or facsimiles of them, for other wise it was often difficult to understand the cases. He had found great difficulty in charging the grand jury in some of the cases of forgery in the calendar in consequence of the omission to annex the documents. A youth named Cooper was convicted on his own con. fession of forging several orders for the payment of small sums of money. Mr Hurst was for the prosecution; Mr Roupell and Mr Begley appeared for the prisoner. The prisoner had been a clerk in the service of the Lon don and Brighten Railway Company, who have a sick fund for their servants formed out of their contributions, and on which they have a right to draw in case of sickness or acct. dent. , The prisoner, who had previously borne a good cha racter, had forged several orders purporting to be signed l lay persons thus entitled to draw upon the fund. The learned Judge sentenced him to 18 months' imprison ment with hard labour. A man named Fuggle, described as a carpenter, was in• dieted for forgery and uttering a cheque for X2O, with intent to defraud. Mr Merrifield conducted the case for the prosecution—the prisoner was not defended by counsel. The case was rather peculiar. The prosecutor, one Se lines, was in business at Hastings some years ago, and in the year 1857 had an account at the Hastings branch of the London and County Bank, and the prisoner was in his ser• vice. Since then the prosecutor had left llastings. On the sth of November last the prisoner presented to a clothier at Brighton a cheque on the bank for £2O, dated 26th October, 1864, and purporting to be signed by Selines. At the back of the cheque was the indorsement, " Paid 16th October, 1857," and the date and signature bore traces of erasure and rewriting. The prisoner gave a false address, and when the cheque was stopped at the bank he denied having presented it. It was found to be an old cheque of the year 1864,which had been cashed and cancelled, and it was supposed that having been mislaid or left about, the prisoner had found it and altered the date, and had erased the erasure on the sig nature, and had then re-written it over the erasure. The prisoner himself stated that he had picked up the cheque," but he denied having altered it. Mr Selines proved that 1857 he had an account at the Hastings branch of the bank, and he received his cancelled cheques as is usual, and sometimes left them about. The signature to this cheque, he said, had been his, but it had been altered, apparently by erasure and then rewriting it, and as it stood it was not, he said, his signature—and the date also had been altered. He had mislaid the counterpart books, and he could not say when the cheque was drawn. The learned Judge—Do you put a number on the cheques and counterpart ? Witness said he did not. The learned Judge—Then let me Advise you to do so. it is a very good precaution. The manager of the Hastings branch of the bank in 1857 was called as a witness, but had left his books behiad, and so could not positively say, except upon reference to a memorandum made therefrom the other day, that he had paid the check, The learned Judge observed that he was sorry bankers' clerks should so often forget to bring their books. The books of the Bunk of England were considered so far public that copies of entries were admissible ; but that was not so as to private books or the books of private bankers. The witness said he had no doubt he paid the check. The original debt he believed to have been the 16th of October, 1864. The check had been paid and cancelled in the usual way by erasing the signature, and he believed the erasure had been erased and then the signature re written over the traces of the former signature. The prisoner, a poor, ignorant fellow, whom no one could suppose capable of so crafty a device, repeated his former statement that he had picked up the check and presented it as he found it, and had never altered it. The learned Judge, in summing up the case to the jury, pointed out to them that there was a count, for uttering the check, knowing it to be forged, as well as a cow.: for forging it, and they might convict him upon either or both. There could be no doubt upon the evidence, that the check was originally drawn in 1857. The suggestion was that the cancellation had been erased. and the signature being re written or retraced. Of this they could judge from inspec • tion of the instrument—and if they believed that the pri soner had found the check and thus dealt with the date and signature so as to give the appearance of a recent check of the date of the 26th of October, 1861, he would be guilty of forgery. Or, if finding it so altered by any body else, and knowing it to bs torged he presented it, he would be guilty of the uttering. Looking at the prisoner's appearance and his apparent want of in telligence, they might doubt whether he made the altera tions. Then came the question whether he knew the check to be false or forged. Beyond all doubt he uttered it. And then there were the facts of his giving a false address, and falsely denying his presentation of it, and it was for the jury whether these facts showed guilty knowledge on his part. The jury found the prisoner Guilty of uttering the check with intent to defraud, and they recommended him to mercy on account of his poverty and infirmity. The learned judge, in passing sentence, said he thought that they had rightly found him guilty only of uttering the check. But, knowing Mr Setines as he did, his own story convicted him of great dishonesty in not taking the check back to him, even assuming that he had, as he said, found it. His real offence probably was that he had been guilty of a false pretence in presenting the check as if it were a genuine one, and obtaining goods by means of it. Under all the circumstances, the sentence would be imprisonment for nine months, and, on account of his weak state of health, without hard labour. MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—LEEDS, Dec. 23. (Before Mr Justice Keating.) His lordship sentenced James Thompson, who was tried yesterday for stabbing his wife, to penal servitude for life; and the prisoner Ackroyd, who was found guilty of various offences under the bankruptcy laws, to one year's imprison ment. Thos. Drake was indicted for feloniously attempting to drown Elizabeth Wilson, with intent to murder her, at Halifax on Dec. 6 last. Mr Thornber conducted the prosecution; Mr Wheelhouse • defended the prisoner. It appeared from the evidence that the prosecutrix and prisoner are only 17 years old, and that they had been liv ing together for some weeks; but the prosecutrix had left the prisoner about a month before the unhappy occurrence took place. The prosecutrix then lived in a furnished room and used to go to work every day in Halifex. On the Gth December she arrived too late at her work, and had to re turn home again. As she was returning she met the prisoner by the canal. He accompanied her;towards her home. When they had got under the canal bridge he caught hold of her with one hand and put his other hand over her eyes and pushed her into the water. She went under the water three or four times, while the prisoner stood looking on without offering her any assistance, and then walked away. John Farness, a man who happened to be passing, bravely jumped into the water, and saved the prosecutrix at great peril to his life. The prosecutrix was then laid on the grass, and while the people on the spot were attending to her the pri soner threw himself into the water and attempted to drown himself. Mr 'Wheelhouse contended, on behalf of the prisoner, that he was not in his right mind at the time, and called several witnesses to prove the fact. His Lordship, in summing up, said that the witness Fur ness had conducted himself in a most gallant and humane manner, which reflected the greatest credit on him, and he regretted that he was unable to grant him a public reward. The learned judge then said that it was for the jury to con sider if the prisoner at the time was in a state of mind to form any intention at all, for it appeared that the prisoner at the bar, from an accident he had three or four years ago, was subject to fits, and that he never was himself for some days after, and that he had a fit the night before; but still the jury must look at his conduct at the time to arrive at a right conclusion as to his state of mind. The jury found the prisoner guilty, and told his lordship hat they had made a subscription for the witness Furness ,o show their appreciation of his services. ',Lis Lordship said they had bolter give the money to the officer of the Court, as probably there might be other per sons in court who might be desirous of adding to it. (His lordship himself added a handsome donation.) His lordship said that under the circumstances he should only sentence the prisoner to 15 years' penal servitude. George Wrigh'son, Thomas Bourne, George 'Walker, and Isaac Askham were indicted for night poaching, Mr Maule said that Robert Wright, the head game keeper of Mr George Fox, with five other keepers, went cut to watch on the 16th Nov. last at one o'clock in the morning. At half-past one they were in Bramham-park , close by the Thatched House, Whincozer, in the township of Barwick in Millet. They saw the prisoners standing about, and went towards them. They noticed that there were nets about for catching game, and a bag was subse- quently found with game in it. The prisoners cried out "Hiss, hiss," and advanced to meet the keepers, whom they attacked. The keepers, however, got the best of the fight, and several of the poachers were wounded. The fight The Unity Joint-Stock Bank Inquiry. The case in which Joseph Wak(ffild Terry, the manager) and Thomas Butch, the secretary of the Unity Joint-stock Banking Ccmpany, are charged with having knowingly and wilfully prepared and circulated a false balance-sheet of the affairs of the said bank, with intent to defraud the mem• bers and shareholders, was yesterday resumed before the Mayor at the Mansion-house. Mr Lewis, jun., appeared to conduct the prosecution— Mr Sleigh, instructed oy Mr Iv arson, or caunonmir Let,ap peared for the defendant Terry—Mr Metcalfe, instructed by Mr Wontner, sen., appeared for Burch—and Mr Hum phreys was again present to give any information on the part of the directors. George Lewis Phipps Eyre was sworn, and said he was a solicitor, carrying on business at 1, John-street, Bedford row, a member of the firm of Eyre and Lawson. At the formation of the Unity Bank he was applied to to become a director of that institution, and he joined the board from that period, by which he had been a great loser. The de fendant Terry was first accountant to the bank, and was appointed on December 20, 1855, which was during the formation of the bank and about six months before the bank was opened. He had the highest character from Messrs. Jones Loyd and Co., in whose service he had been 17 years. Terry was appointed manager on Aug. 17, upon the retire ment of Mr Chambers. In Jane, 1857, he had a conversa tion with Terry in the board-room in presence of the direc tors. One of the matters in Which Mr Chambers was con sidered inefficient was in reference to an account of a person named Gregory, to whom Mr Chambers had lent £l,OOO without security, and to balance the books the sum of £l,OOO was entered in the cash article book, and included in the cash balance for some time, Gregory having, in fact, left the country. Upon that coming to the directors' know ledge Terry was summoned before the board, and he was asked to explain the irregularity of that sum appearing in the cash ar tie° book, which was then brought before the board. The item was pointed out to him, and he explained in the presence ct the manager that it was an irregularity, and that gave him (Mr Eyre) great confidence in him far his frankness. After the opening of the London and Mid. dlesex Bank, Lord Torrington, who was the chairman, ex pressed confidence in Mr Terry. _ _ _ Mr Lewis observed that he did not know where to find Lord Torrington. Mr Humphreys—He is at Windsor Castl:% Witness proceeded—Burch was appointed clerk in 1856, and was appointed as secretary in 1858, but was not formally appointed until January, 1860. Burch prepared the report to the shareholders in June, 1858, and witness produced a manuscript draft in Burch's handwriting. On Jan. 10, 1858, at a board meeting, it was resolved to adopt a sug gestion made by witness to appoint a secretary, as the manager had, previous to the date of the resolution, to per form the duties of manager, secretary, and accountant, and that the duties of the secretary would be to attend the board of directors and enter the minutes, to write the half yearly reports, to write all letters of importance as dictated by the court, to take the management of the share capital, keep the transfer books, and issue warrants for dividends, and some other duties; and, in order that the directors might have easy access to all sources of information, to en able them to control the entire operations of the bank and their being acquainted with the daily progress, that the secretary should have to be provided by the manager, in order to bring before the committee in court, a statement of customers' daily balances, showing in juxtaposition what amount under discount, &c, ; a list of bills discounted the previous day or since the last court or commitee ; a state ment of loans renewed or for approval, or application for loans for the consideration of directors; a general daily balance-sheet, and the cash-book or any other cash and any other book which the secretary might require for the direc tors' inspection. Witness said those were his orders at the time for the fullest information being given to the directors, and it was only upon the condition of that resolution being carried that he could have taken his seat again at the board. The Lord Mayor said that was a very different version of the duties of secretary to what Mr Sykts had given. Witness wrote a letter to the directors in June, 1857, drawing attention to the position of the bank. On that letter a committee of the shareholders was appointed to in. vestigate the affairs. He resumed his seat at the board on Nov. 24, 1857. ban T k h . o Lord Mayor aa k o 3 h ow man y s h ares h e h a d i n the Witness said ho had at that time 40. Unfortunately he increased them afterwards. 'Witness resumed, and said his attendance, and also his brother directors' was constant. They met twice a week, and besides that one or other of the directors was daily at the bank. One director was in the habit, periodically, of going to the West Branch. It was Burch's duty to read ont to the directors the list of unclaimed articles from the cash article book. The item £1,095 being a draft of Steene's, which he found in the cash article book, and which appeared every day for about 12 months, he never heard Burch read over that !tem to the directors. On an average he theought Burch did not read more than 25 items from the cash articles. In the book produced there were over 300, Ho (witness) had no idea that dishonoured cheques were entered in that book. Burch had never mentioned that item to the directors. A large sum was always a matter of inquiry, and since the matter of £l,OOO witness had alluded to, he had paid particular attention to the reading of that book. He undoubtedly considered that Burch read every item, and he never examined the bills after Burch had read them. He had great confidence in Burch. On the 27th Juno, 1862, there were dishonoured bills in that book to the amount of £16,265, included in a total of £lB,lOO, purport ing to be the cash in hand on that day, and ho (Mr Eyre) had not the slightest knowledge that £16,000 out of £lB,OOO consisted of dishonoured bills. They appeared in the book as cash articles. Burch never told him there was that amount of dishonoured bills amongst the cash. He had no know ledge of the bank at that time, except such knowledge as ho obtained from the knowledge of the defendants. The effect of the rules he had suggested, if carried cut properly, would have placed the true state of affairs before the directors. The detailed balance sheet produced, which showed the amount of past due bills, was never shown to him by either of the defendants. He saw the manuscript balance sheet corresponding with the one printed and circulated and published. The two manuscript balance sheets were in the handwriting of Burch. The balance sheet was pub blished in September, 1862. It would be the duty of Burch to send tho balance sheet to bo printed. and also to send it to the shareholders. Just before the publishing of that balance-sheet he (Mr Eyre) purchased twenty shares. They belonged to the executors of a de ceased director, and he purchased them for £2O 10s per share ; but of the £2O lOs he received back £l9 per share, which ho transferred to the capital of the London and Mid dlesex Bank, and which he had also lost, except £3 per share, which he had from the liquidators of the Unity Bank. With regard to the £540 which he transferred to the Lon don and Middlesex, upon the faith of the balanee-sheet, he had not received a farthing. About June, 1862, he had a conversation with defendants, and they led him to believe that, with the £lO,OOO they had in the Middlesex, the shares would yield £3O each. He believed that under new direction and management, and under a new name, without the odium which was attached to the Unity, it would be a good specu. lation. By the Lord Mayor—At that time he had not ascertained the amount of dishonoured bills. He did not know until a twelvemonth afterwards the extent of dishonoured bills, and not until Mr Howell's investigation the full extent of the losses. There were directions given to the defendants by Mr Alderman Mechi to prepare a truthful and bona fide balance-sheet. He did not know the item £207,000 included bills and cheques that had been dishonoured years before. He believed it represented the bona ,fide assets of the bank. The Lord Mayor—The actual value ? Witness—The actual value according to the manager's calculation, In continuation, witness said it was not by his direction forged bills were included. A forged bill of a customer named Madums for £1,841 was included in the good assets. That bill appeared by the minutes to have been ordered to be de bited to the profit and loss account as irrecoverably lost, Mr Alderman Mechi held abcut a fifth of the capital of the bank in shares, and was very constant in his attendance at the bank,and in consequence of that witness was not so constant. On Nov. 25, 1863, at a board meeting, resolutions were passed—" That the thanks of the board collectively and individually should be presented to the manager, secretary, district manager and staff, for their untiring zeal, ability, and services rendered to the directors and shareholders on transferring the business of the bank to the London and Middlesex, and on winding up its affairs ; and that £350 be awarded and forthwith paid to the manager, secretory, and clerks for their services during the amalgamation with the London and DiEddlsex (Limited), and for their past and continuing services in winding up the affairs of the bank ; and also that a further sum of £250 be awarded and paid them when such services were completed on the conclusion of the winding up," Mr Terry's salary was, on his first appointment, £750 a year, which was after.. wards increased to £l,OOO. At the time that resolution was passed, he had no idea of what had since come to his know ledge in respect to the item of £207,000. In Dec., 1862, a resolution was passed directing Burch to prepare a list of defaulters to the Unity Bank. That list was presented to the board. The debt of Sterne for £2,100 was not in that list; nor were Lowenthal's for £4,635, Bunyard's for £5,600, G. 11. Wood's for £1,400, and John Harris's for £1,360. On Jan. 20, 1863, a resolution was passed that the secre tary should prepare a statement, showing the financial position of the ba❑k, and present it at the next meeting. It appeared by the minutes that one was presented. In March, 1863, there was a resolution that an alphabetical list of debtors should be prepared. The book produced, which was principally in Burch's writing, but which had some of Terry's figures in it, was the book produced at the meeting, He had no recollection of the debts of Sterne and the others he had alluded to, being included in that book, and which alone amounted to nearly £17,000. He had not the slightest idea that those amounts were owing to the bank. Oa the morning of the 9th Feb., 1864, he was in the board-room of the London and Middlesex Bank. He saw Mr Alder. man Mechi there, and he had a piece of paper in his hand with a list of debtors, and he (witness) noticed the names of Sterne and Lowenthall, and asked Burch, who was pre sent, how it was they had not been mentioned before, as he did not remember seeing them before. Burch said he would prefer that Mr Terry should answer the question, and he left the room, after which Terry entered, and he asked him how it was that Sterne and Lowenthall were debtors to the bank, of which the directors knew nothing. Terry said they were debtors, and admitted it had been concealed, but said he had done so with an object in doing it. He (Terry) said by introducing Lowen thall to the London and Middlesex he should be able to reduce the debt to the Unity. He (witness) was a director of the London and Middlesex, and he knew Lowenthal! wao having money from that hank—but ho had not at that time been made aware of the fact that he owed money to the Unity, or he should not have given his sanction to his hav ing money from the London and Middlesex—Lowenthall's debt to the London and Middlesex,:He had no knowledge of the release given to Bunyard in respect to his £5,600, and Terry would have no authority to release that debt without the consent of the board. He had no release of the assign ment, and release for £lO,OOO of Ferles. Those accounts were constantly discussed by the board. Burch was sure to have been present. He had spoken to Basch about Lowens thall, when that party's bills were before the board, and he said it was a good account, and the acceptances were gen uine, although the amounts were so small. He had no idea that the whole of Lowenthall's acceptances were given up, and the worthless paper of Ironsides taken in exchange. The Lord Mayor—To have something to represent the amount ? Mr Lewis—Just so. Witness continued—He did not know that Ironsides' bills had been struck out to avoid presentation. At the time Lowenthall was a customer at the London and Middlesex, neither ()tithe defendants said anything in respect to Lowen thall's debt to the Unity. Burch was asked, in reference to Mr Lowenthall's biils, what sort of customer he was, and he said that the bills were paid in cash. Lowenthall's debt to the London and Middlesex was originally £7OOO, of which £4,000 was entirely lost. When the balance was published, in June, 1862, showing the bank to be solvent and capable of paying a dividend, he had not the slightest suspicion that it was otherwise, or that it was not a correct statement of their affairs. He (witness) had no hand in preparing that balance.sheet ; it was left to the two defendants. Cross-examined by Mr Sleigh—He believed, according to the terms of the report, there was a surplus of £3,215 7s, after paying expenses. Mr Sleigh drew witness's attention to his letter of June, 1857, in which he stated in reference to the affairs of the bank that the losses during the then past half-year had been £9,000, and that out of the £150,003 capital only £15,000 was available for banking purposes, the rest haVing been lost ; and asked whether he believed that between that and Saptember, 1862, the bank had so far regained its losses as to have a surplus of £3,000. Witness explained that ho did not say the security was lost, but that it was unavailable, Mr. Chambers, the former manager, having at that time a large sum out in loans, and said a call of £lO had been made. Mr Sleigh repeated his question, and witness said he believed the statement sot forth by the balance-sheet, that there was £3,000 available, and did not think at the time the defendants would have made such a statement if it were untrue. The case was then again adjourned, the defendants being admitted to bail as before in a total sum of £B,OOO. Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DIIE. Australia and Mauritius, via Southampton .. Jan. 18. via Marseilles' Jan. 12. Brazil and Cape Yards, by British pacet. Jan. 5. Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena Dec. 29. China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton. Jan. 2. via Marseilles Dec. 27. Falkland Islands . •• Gibraltar, via Southamptcn Dec. 27. India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton Jan. 2. - ' via Marsedes Dec, 27. India (Bombay), via Southampton Dec. 27 . --. via Marseilles Dec. 21, Portugal.... Malta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton Dec. 27. via Marseilles Dec, 21 Newfoundland .. Jan. 2. Oporto and Vigo .. , . IL S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet.... Dec 29, by U.S. packet.... by Canadian packet. Dec. 30 W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Tencriffo Jan. 10. West Indies and Pacific .. . Dec,; 29. 1 3ahamas (via New Yolk) Bermuda (ditto) Cuba and Mexico ..Lee. 29. An old actor, Lonis,Kramer, has just died at Geneva in a singular way ; he was playing King Lear, and in his ex _ citement swallowed a portion of his artificial beard, Whi c h stuck in the windpipe and choked him. [ADVERTISEMENT.] —Holloway's Ointment. —s oun d. ness Itenewed.--Any indolent ulcer or chronic sore should immediately have this excellent unguent applied to it in the manner pointed out in its accompany!ng directions. For thoroughly cleansing a diseased or broken skin, and for rousing its poisoned vessels or depressed nerves to healthy action, nothing can surpass Holloway's well-known oint ment. It strikingly shows its power when applied to the "old man's ulcer," which settles in the leg, and often be comes most intractable under the ordinary treatment, though no case has yet withstood this cooling and healing salve. The troublesome swellings preparatory to most ulcerations of the legs are likewise reduced by the diligent application of Holloway's unguent, by giving strength to the weakened circulation through the capillaries, SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. TIMES,—We took occasion to remark some time ago that if the Americans could but have foreseen the magnitude and duration of their Civil War it would never have been undertaken, and that the South would have been left to follow its own policy of secession and independence. Our words have now been echoed by one of the Federal Ministers in his official report. Mr. Fessenden, whose duties as Secretary of the Treasury bring him necessarily into contact with the stern realities of the struggle, candidly confesses his doubts whether the people would have ever entered upon this contest if they could have anticipated its cost. They had taken no measure of the work before them. Believing it to be a matter of " ninety days," and a short volunteer service, they plunged into the war, and then, at each successive check,redoubled their exere Lions and their outlay, always with the delusive idea that this one effort was alone required to bring the struggle to a close. We believe that in these circumstances lies the true explanation of that financial position which Mr. Fessenden has so frankly described. The Federate raised money as they raised men, by abrupt calls on unlimited scale. Toey had no machinery ready organized either for financial or military purposes, and they extempoe rized a Budget the same as they extemporized an army. The inevitable results of such a policy have long been manifest in the enormous and incessant demands for men and a prodigality of expenditure absolutely without parallel in the history of na tional finance. The Americans began their war under conditions apparently favourable Zo the exer tion of national strength. They were, as a people, prosperous, beyond measure, untouched by taxation and with a public credit unimpaired by any public debt. But if they were ignorant of taxation they might be supposed to be impatient of it also, and their rulers, under the governing delusion that a single campaign would " break the neck of the rebellion," decided, not unnaturally, on leaving them untaxed still. If, indeed, we put our selves in the position of Federal statesmen four years ago, we shall readily admit that what Mr. Chase then did was the most reason able thing that he could do. It might have been dangerous and would certainly have been tedious to raise by taxation the funds immediately required. There was no machinery available, there was no ex perience to furnish information or guidance, and nobody could tell how the sudden demands of the Treasury could be beseor most safely satisfied through the annual revenue. On the other hand, a loan would remove every difficulty. It would bring in the money at once, it would leave the people undisturbed, and in the absence of any pre-existing debt the obligee tion would be too trifling to be considered. So Mr Chase, though he only calculated on wanting about £60,000,000 for the first year's service, quietly pro posed to borrow mere than £50,000,000 of the sum, and if the war had been finished at Bull Run, he would have been justified in his policy. It was never worth while for the sake of a sum which would be unappreciable as a national debt to create an upe popular and perhaps unproductive system of na tional taxation. But the very foundation of this policy, unhappily, was hollow throughout. The war was not to be so ended. It was a contest of giants conducted on a scale of matchless magnitude, and portending a duration incalculabl e still. Mr Chase, therefore, fuund himself in unexpected diffi culties. He had made exactly the opposite mistake to that made by our own Chancellor of the E eche.. quer in the Crimean war. Mr Gladstone thought he could do without loans—Mr Chase thought he could do without taxes—but the American war has been so immense in its scope and so obstinately pro tracted, that the error of the Federal statesman has produced astounding consequences. There was nee thing for it but to go on, to establish and improve a system of taxation as last as might be, and in the meantime to borrow what could net be otherwise raised. This Mr Chase did. He saw as clearly as we see that such a system of borrowing was ruinous, and that a revenue from taxation should be procured at the earliest moment possible; but this, as Mr Fessenden truly says, was a work of time, and the State could not wait for the money. N ew loans, therefore, were necessarily contracted one after another, and so gigantic were the charges of the war, that even the products of taxation as they gra dually increase d still left the deficits to be made up by loans as formidable as ever. In these facts we obtain a clue to the otherwise bewildering history of Federal finance. The financiers of the North have done their best, and that best has been better than is commonly-supposed. But they were crippled first by the want of adequate .organisation and ex perience in the Revenue Department, and then by the inordinate magnitude of the demands accruing year after year. It must not be forgotten in criti cising a Federal budget that nothing has ever hitherto been seen approaching to the scale of Fede ral expenditure. That exponditare is certainly half a-million sterling a day, and it is not improbable that if all liabilities could be brought to account the outgoings of the year would reach two hundred millions. Our greatest expenditure scarcely reached above half this sum. In the year 1814 it really did atnownt to £111,000,000, an aggregate still regarded as marvellous, but in 1856 it was only £82,000,000. This unmanageable demand is what defeats the skill of Federal financiers. Otherwise, as far as taxation goes, they have gradually formed a scheme of re venue which places a fair share of weight on the shoulders of the present generation. The taxes now to be levied from the people of the Federal States will sustain a comparison with those levied from our selves. Last year Mr Chase collected upwards of £50,000,000, or as much as we raised 20 years ago. For the current year Mr Fessenden calculates on getting about £54,000,000, although certain lucky windfalls which helped Mr Chase are no longer to be anticipated. For the year next ensuing the revenue, exclusive of loans, is estimated to produce no less than £80,000,000, so that a fair proportion between loans and taxation has been established at last. The report before us, though elaborately instruc tive in other particulars, does not descend to those details which we look for in the statements of our own Ministers ; in fact, the condensation of matter is carried in some points to obscurity. Dismissing the receipts from public lands and miscellaneous sources, we find Mr Feseenden's estimate of revenue n duced to two heads; and these our financial Reformers will be distressed to hear are Customs and Excise. The " internal revenue," however, of which Mr Fessenden speaks comprehends, like our own " inland revenue," not only Excise duties, but direct taxes ; and upon the latter subject we should like to have more information than the Report supplies. We know full well that hitherto duties corresponding to our Excise duties have been maintained at a height far exceeding that of direct taxation, but we have not got the exact figures. At present, though Mr Fessenden hopes to extend the Income-tax, it is clearly upon Excise or its equiva lents that he mainly relies. The Customs Duties have already been strained beyond their strength, for they are falling off i n amount, and have created a smuggling trade in the place of regular commerce. It seems that X 15,000,000 is about the maximum of their produce, so that Mr Fessenden must raise Fl good £60,000,000 from " internal revenue." And this is what, for the year 1865.66, he hopes to do, but how that £60,000,000 is to be made up he does not tell us. We can only see that every branch of trade and every process of commerce are apparently to be taxed, and that the interference with business will be something beyond the conception of people in this country. Mr Fessenden himself believes that certain of his taxes would " probably fail of collection to some extent," but that by the applica tion of "stringent rules, requiring frequent perio dical returns, verified by oath, coupled with the power to compel an exhibit of books of account," they might be made satisfactorily productive. Such are the prospects before the Federal Secretary, and their general character may be gathered from the fact that although he hopes to raise in 1865 about eight times as much by taxation as Mr Chase raised in 1861, he will still have to raise twice as much by borrowing. In the face of such terrible necessities we must own that we are not surprised to find Mr Fessenden himself resorting to the very same delu sion which had misled his predecessor, and "confi dently hoping," for his own consolation, that "the great struggle is near its termination," and that his prospective estimates may have been superfluously framed, POST.—We are entering upon a season which, whilst inculcating increased reverence for the duties of our faith, and increased observance of social amenities, also prover bially sanctions increased indulgence in joyousness, merry making, and amusement. In pursuit of the latter our theatres will naturally come in for a large share of public patronage. Christmas is the golden ago of managers, as it is of the little boys and girls home for the holidays, and of the children of maturer growth who are still blessed with sufficient freshness of heart to remain unsated of theatrical illusions. Tho Christmas of 1861-65 seems destined to be no less fertile in opportunities for the tacile indulgence of such predilections than its predecessors. Indeed, it may be expected, if we can trust open announcement and confi dential rumours, that its attractions in that line will exceed anything yet offered. The most ingenious word-twisters of the day will read satirical lessons to the intelligent, and amaze the less keen-witted by that clever nonsense, con veyed in the moat atrocious of puns, which seems to be the specie - di/id of the ago. Juvenile erudition will realise splendid illustrations of its researches into the annals of the "Arabian Nights," Madame d'Aulnois," and "Fairy Tales." Impossible loveliness in scenery will suggest the prospect of future Royal Academicians, and all the resources of machinery, amounting to engineering, and of scientific chemistry will be called in to produce "startling effects." Even unwonted establishments will contend in the race, and her Majesty's, defying the ghosts of Cetalini and Pasta, will produce a pantomime signalised by a one-legged clown, whilst Covent-garden and DI ury - lane—breathe it not to the shades of John Kemble and Edmund Kean-- will lead the town by the nose by means of one-legged dancers. Old and young will doubtless find something to dazzle, and, what is more, to amuse them; and in the trust that crowded houses and approving smiles will repaY the labour, mental as well as physical, and the liberal outlay usually lavished upon such productions, we ven' ture to offer a few words of kindly remonstrance to a very important element of such a result —the audience. We cannot, perhaps, better introduce our pro test than by repeating a f e w li nes w hi c h a ppeared in our impression of yesterday, relative to the performance of a new play at the St. James's Theatre on Thursday They ran thus—" We feel ourselves compelled to add that the success of this piece was rendered very critical, not on account of any demerits perceptible in it, but owing to the unseemly conduct of certain individuals in a private be% close upon the stage, These gentlemen amused themselves by making grimaces at, speaking to, and loudly interrupt' ing the actors on the stage—so loudly that at first the audience imagined the words proceeded legitimately from some one of the characters about to enter. Tho annoyance at last arrived at such a height, and so palpably imperiled the success of the play, that Mr Charles Mathews was com pelled to make a personal remonstrance on the subject to the individuals from whom the interruption proceeded. The audience at once took up the cause, and both uneniwouslY and vociferously demanded that the effenders should be turned out. This they firmly insisted upon. until it was at length accomplished, and the play proceeded satisfactorily to its termination. When it is remembered what disadvan tages usually attend a' first representation,' such behaviour —which includes not only an injury to the establishmen t but also an insult to the audience—cannot be too strongly reprobated." This is but a mild description of the persistent rudeness which actually took place, and singularly enough , an occurrence of a similar interruption, though not of se personal a nature, had taken place somewhat earlier in th e piece, but had been put down by a significant demonstratio n on the part of the public. These two instances of such bee haviour in one evening, reprehensible at any time, were 01 1 that night especially ill-Jmed. Not only was it the first night of a new piece, when the corps dratnatique is ob viously entitled to increased indulgence, and when every, allowance is usually accord e d f or th a t want of smoothness in the action of a play which no number of " rehearsals" will eufficiently ensure, but the entertainments on that occasion were for the benefit of two well-deserved favourites of the public, Mr and Mrs Charles Mathews—the one appealing to our sympathies not only by her sex, but as an accomplished artiste; the other, equally on the natural score cf his hereditary claims as well as in his own title, fairly established, to that succes sion, So unexpected e reception was quite sufficient to daunt the stoutest theatrical nerves, and as it so happened that the chief weight of the piece fell precisely upon those exposed to this ordeal, not only were the enjoyment of the audience and the efforts of the performers very critically impaired, but the hopes of an author and the legitimate expectations of a manager lay at the mercy of a few reckless or thoughtles s individuals. Now, we are far from asserting that such un" seemly occurrences as these are common in our theatres' though they are in reality far more f requen t th an any but habitual playgoers are aware of. But whilst we admit, with a certain pride, that upon such occasions the general public rises en masse—no less for its own convenience than in honest sympathy with those outraged—to reprobate the offence, an d expel the offenders, we submit that this very reprobation en . titles and encourages us to point out the prevalence of similar shortcoming, in a milder form, which equally nee" amendment. The thoughtless are becoming almost as al" noying as the reckless. It is now a matter of daily, or rather nightly, experience to find iu almost any theatre one or more groups of persons who appear to take a livelier interest ia their own conversation than in the performance before thou' They appear to be either ignorant or careless that their small talk, though carried on in a private box and in a tone 0° louder than that usual with them in their own houses , i s sufficiently distracting to reider inaudible, or rather plicablo, the dialogue on the stage. It is to be presum e d they aro unconscious that their enjoyment of their own an their friends' sweet voices is utterly destructive of the even' ing's pleasure to the rest of the audience. Let us figur e them of that fact. The most devoted lover of the drama iS paralysed by that a pp aren t t r ifl e . Th e pat h os eve n Of 6 Rachel 'must needs pale when accompanied by a runni e g commentary on last night's debate, and there could happen, no more cruel revul s i on o f f ee li ng t h an w h en excite d eighteen, awaiting with chilled heart and bated breath th e stealthy appearance of the "Hidden Hand," he ar !, Charley Foppleton disti n ctly as k L a d y L ou i s, " shall yo u go to the Fitzfluinmery's to-morrow ?" Absorption is h i :, deed indispensable to the "necessary question of the play and as to nine-tenths of every audience the attendance at one is not a matter of habit, while it is one of expense, the se who can occupy private boxes at their option will act the more considerately in conceding to them that privilege; f er we regret to say that it i s i n t h e pr i vate b oxes wher e sue; forgetfulness is chiefly prevalent. It has even deecendka from the gallery, its former home, and now the gods, Who are so knowing as to d e t ec t th e most recondite allus i on s o' , the most classical burlesques, are also wise enough to listen to that which they have paid for hearing. It is true that "Boxing Night" is sometimes, but not always, an deep' tion ; and perhaps on Monday next the performances pre" ceding the pantomimes may p a s s i n d um b s h ow am idst tbe confusion of Babel. But, in general, the gallery is attentice and discriminating, evidently intent upon having its six" penny worth for its sixpence. We wonder this sensible provement has never struck their superiors, in whom th e : payment for what is decidedly the least comfortable et: apartments, and, moreover, liable to interruption from the stage, is amazing. We presume the notion that to appe ar at a theatre and seem indifferent teethe performance is sYr a r i tomatic of a " swell," has quite exploded. The greenes t ° I "gents" must have given up that long ago. For the re s and genuine "swells" either come to be amused, or, 12 0 1 a thousand other agreeable haunts, stay away, We th in s ,.. quite well enough even of the most thoughtless of our ati ences to feel assured that when they once reflect that t he y want of eonsideration needlessly wounds the dignity ?I very laborious profession, needlessly destroys the arli. °3 : ment of their inoffensive fellow-citizens, and grievouslY lol perils the natural expectations of those who risk mu eli nrs the management of our theatres, we shall hear of few 13 ' d o such instances. But if any one ambitious of being ° gr en b imagines he will lose the chance by adhering to W ilt . proposition, lot him abjure the notion. Tittlebat ke mouse is never less likely to be mistaken for the D e vil , of St James's, and never so certain of being set "ee for a "gent," as when, by his utter contempt for th e I :i ' ll , formance, he obviously manifests that his visit t theatre is merely owing to his possessing no more " OWeI L tsh opportunity of spending his evening. COUNTRY MARKETS. LIVERPOOL—FRIDAY. tlsi° A numerous attendance of miller s an d d ea lors a- i l l , morning's market, and wheat met a good consumPti v lelt. quiry, at an advance of 2d per cental upon this daY o y. Flour held for 3d to 6d per sack and b a rrel more fp° la. Oats and oatmeal dull, and prices remain the saw" . De icl dian corn Is dearer. Beans, barley, and peas all firm, WAFIED—RIDAY•t 111111 Fine dry wheat met E a fair ) consu F mptive . d e mand ad v eils last week's prices. In barley no change. Beans an ' rather firm. Averages for the week : Wheat 3354 qrs., at 419 61c1 Oats 8ar1ey......... 684 --28 s li d Peas Beans STAMFORD—FRIDAY. atoll s' White wheat, 40s to 425; red, 35 s to 38s pa 3. or q r. Barley, malting, 31s to 35s ; grinding, 27s to 3 0 s P2 O pe r Oats, 18s to 21s per 24 stone. Beans, old, 38s to qr. ; new, 36s to 3bs. • LINCOLN—FRmAY. to , 3 65 White wheat new, 40s to 44s Barley, gm' ding* ' 2v to 2°° . 74 tied do . Old white 42s to 47s New do .......... 2p9 AOB to 338 ~ 'led do. 39s to 43s I Beans.. .......... ;; to o'" Barley, malting 33s to 34s 1 Beans, new...... "6, BRISTOL SUGAR—FRIDAY. b l isiol During the last week there has b e en a stetVY „ u ote doing in raw and refined sugar, and prices must 1 -° `$ The fully 6d dearer. Rum sells steadily at full prics...iotraito produce markets will be closed to-day for the Cl' holidays, and reopened Jan. 3. Births. 1, OGLE OOO GRANT.—On the 22d inst., at Gosport, the w ife of G. Grant On , the 23d Esq., of inst., a son. at Norbury, Beula h, the wife Of John Ogle, Esq., of a daughter. the Wife OTTER.—On the 23d inst., at 47, Montagu•Eq uare) of Charles Otter, Esq., of a daughter. arriages. St sfi PA.YNE—WARREN.—On the 22d inst., at TutburY, Sep fordshire, Alexander Richard Payne, of Hill titer t o merset, solicitor, to Francis Anna , third daughter late Samuel Warren, Esq., of the same place. „ hu rcht SMITH—BAILL—On the 22d inst. at at Trini t y Westbourne-terrace, Richard.llorlon Smith. Esql John of Lincoln's-inn, to Manilla, the eldest daughter u Bally, Etq., Q.C. Clifton Alban, aged 38. BujANS, ALBAN.—On the 19th blo'or 1. — CA ' 4 1. 61,(1. L ins t,, „,,,f,,,0s ~ at Guernsey, J —On the 20th inst., at Chester, Richard Driimor aged on vilia ci the ?.. 22d inst., at Old Bond-street, sir A , I 0 Berkeley Call, Bart., of Whiteford liouse, Cornwa aged 49. OGLE h a Nl °, .—On the 21st inst„ at 'Upper Norwood, Rio'—' Eqi , of the Inner Temple. St s hire+ ms.—On the 21st inst., at Cadoston, Glamorgan the Rev. Thomas Sims, M,A., aged 80. , Tudor TUDOR—On the 21st ' S bo 1r Sam . inst., at nares r o , Esq., of Gidea Hall, Rumford, Essex, aged 66. .. 'racial, TyLDEN,--On the 2 0 th inst., at Brighton, H. Commander R.N. N ibite , WHITR.—On the 22d inst., at Brighton, Edward aged Eig., o f 12, Great Matlborough-streot, London, Po 69. , g Prirized and Prtyfisfieri oy WILLIAbIADitt'• , Strand, Printer, at 1 LIE sml Odiee .n rh e Preeinei of The &way. Oe of No. 112 ° London: Alid4logx.—Saturday, December 24, 1E64,